Pain Redefined
by whereisthismusiccomingfrom
Summary: Zutara. The Gaang meet with some earth kingdom troops and with the help of some old friends attempt to take Ba Sing Se back before the Day of Dark Sun


Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar The Last Airbender

Iroh ran an old calloused hand down his thick grey beard. The cold steel behind his back stung his skin. His glazed golden eyes drifted to the the bars fitted on the door. The light broke through the crack in a stream of dust filled illumination. A snort of smoke erupted from his nostrils, filling the light and lifting to the cieling as he looked away. The snound of chains rustled outside the door, and the light was covered. The grown of metal echoed along the metal walls as the light was replaced with shadow.

Iroh kept his gaze away from the open doorway, sitting silently. His eyes found the shadow along the wall opposite of the door, the figure of a tall armor covered man outlined. The shadow moved, growing larger as metal boots along steel floor echoed unbearably. The sound stopped, and in the corner of his eyes he saw red steel boots.

Metal and leather armor crinkled as the person knelt down, placing a tray on the ground. On the tray were a pot, cup, and plate of neatly carved meat, potatoes, and dumplings.

"Uncle,"

Iroh ignored the familiar voice.

"Uncle, please speak with me."

Again Iroh ignored the voice. He heard the crinkling of armor as the person turned his head towards the door. He suddenly felt a small crumpled paper hit his head. "Listen to me you old bag of filth!"

Iroh was tekn back by his nephew comment and turned to him, a confused look on his face. "Not many are lucky, to have avatars tea, in east pools ripple, with hatred and fire, " said the scarred Prince.

The old man's eyes widened as Zuko said the words. Leaving Iroh in silence he turned on his heel to the door. Iroh watched the door close before looking to his plate.

_Not many are lucky, to have avatars tea, in east pools rippled, with hatred and fire_

"The old codes, nice touch my nephew..."

Carefully he said the words again and again to himself. Iroh let himself slip in deep thought while pouring the tea. He knew that the lines had four words, which meant something. The fours meant something. The Avatars tea...Iroh loved tea, and the avatar? East pools that rippled with hatred and fire, hatred in the east, the ocean maybe? No that couldn't be it. He knew the first line meant nothing, but the four words had extreme importance. But not many lucky to have the avatars tea obviously had something to do with Iroh and the Avatar, but what. Not so lucky...maybe the fact that he was in prison.

Wait...that was it. Iroh can't meet the Avatar because he was in prison. He had the first two lines. But why would he meet the Avatar? To tell him something? Something was missing. He decided to ignore that for now and continue. With hatred and fire, maybe something extreme, something filled with fire and hatred. Something destructive, like an explosion. Four explosions. The first two lines went together with four somehow as well he knew. Two fours. Again he would have to wait for more.

In east pools rippled. Pools, filled with water that are rippled and moved. Moved, by what...a bender? A bender, yes that was it! A water bender, with hatred. The water bender with the Avatar, she hated Zuko. East, what did east mean? To the east, the eastern air temple.

He had it.

Iroh has to meet with the Avatar, but he could not _now_ because he was in prison. The water bender is in the eastern air temple with the Avatar, and that is where he needs to go to talk with the Avatar. Four explosions, two fours, what did he need to tell the Avatar and the water bender? A lot was still missing.

His eye suddenly caught something nearby. The paper that Zuko had thrown. Carefully he reached for the parchment and unraveled the old tattered page. On the page was something familiar.

_Days of passing grief, filled with tortured hours, will be relieved, with a fire cry._

_Invade the land tamed, crush the rocks built, hatred forgiven may be, within time of sand._

This one was easier. Days of passing grief, four days. Tortured hours, four hours. Will be relieved, his escape. The four explosions had something to do with it as well. With a fire cry, a fire cry. The cry of a fire bender. Iroh had found Zuko's message.

When Iroh heard four explosions, he was to escape. Then he would travel to the Eastern Air Temple where he would inform the Avatar that in exactly four days, and four hours Zuko will make an attempt on Azula's life. That's when they needed to attack to take Ba Sing Se back, taking the Dai Li down.

And last was hatred forgiven may be. Zuko wanted Iroh to apologize to the waterbender.

"I am impressed Zuko,"

* * *

Zuko stood at attention as his sister paced the ground before him. Her hands were behind her back and her eyes were closed. Zuko had to fight the urge to trip her. Mai and Ty Lee sat silently in the corner, Mai playing with a knife and Ty Lee playing with her hair.

Azula stopped in front of Zuko and opened her cold golden eyes. A suspicious gaze settled over Zuko, but he continued to stand still, staring forward. "Prince Zuko," she began. "Are you anxious to return home?"

"Very," he replied, letting a sigh escape his lips.

"I'm sure brother...however," Zuko choked back a cough and closed his eyes, clearly noticed by Azula. "I understand."

"No, you don't." Without another word he turned to leave, turning his eyes away from her. Before he took a step away though, a hand gently wrapped around his shoulder. He stopped and turned his eyes to see the nails of his sister rested on his black armor.

"You are right brother, I cannot understand what pain lingers behind that wall, but I can understand one thing," she paused and brought her lips close to his ear, and the Prince had to force himself to keep his eyes forward. "And that is that you love your country, am I right?"

His body tensed and his eyes closed. "Yes Azula, I do."

"As do I, and so I accept the task father has brought before me of finding the Avatar," Her breathe danced along his neck, heat splashing like waves along his skin. "In four days, we leave."

Zuko's eyes narrowed, and a small smirk split his lips. "Yes sister..."

Zuko proceeded to leave, knowing that his sisters threatening glare followed his back. He knew she was not stupid, and that she had an eye on him. By now she probably knew every line of code he had given to his Uncle only an hour before memorized. But that was the beauty of Iroh and Zuko's code. He soon reached his room after admittedly taking a few wrong turns.

When inside his small but very luxurious room, the banished prince fell to his knees. His hands shook, the rough skin along his body going cold. He forced himself to look at his own hands. _You are strong, you can't fail now._

"How can I do this?" he asked no one.

_Because you are Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation._

For reasons unexplainable by Zuko, those last words stopped his shaking. Slowly he stood again, clenching his fists and closing his eyes with determination. With a breathe he relaxed and looked to his window. The sun was just out of view above the window. It was time.

* * *

Iroh again pulled his hand away from the metal as it grew to hot. With a few seconds of rest he began to work again. The metal of the door was a bright orange, growing hotter and hotter with every second. He kept his senses trained for any movement outside his door, aware that the color should soon be noticeable on the outside.

Iroh stopped and took a breathe of weariness, wiping the sweat from his brow. He wasn't as young as he used to be. He was about to start at work again when something interrupted him. The metal he was contained in shook violently and he heard a groan, followed by silence. Iroh looked to the ceiling of his small cell and smiled.

_One._

He stepped back now and took a fighting stance. The air around him increased in temperature as he brought his right fist back, the left one trained on the door. A loud boom shook the metal again, this one closer than the last vibrations, easily recognizable by the sound and intensity.

_Two_.

Iroh jammed his right fist forward, and the darkness was overwhelmed with light. Fire crackled and hissed as it crashed along the metal. Heat flooded the entire chamber quickly. The cell was designed for fire benders. The heat would be contained inside the small space, making it unbearable for any fire bender. The Dragon of the West was no ordinary fire bender. An eruption almost shook Iroh from his feet.

_Three._

With a growl the old man swiped a foot across the ground, sending a last wave of heat at the door. His momentum continued as his other foot came across towards the gold metal latch along the steel door. The entire complex groaned as another rumble shook the entire building, followed by sounds of agony and surprise.

_Four..._

Iroh's foot crashed along the latched. Sparks fell and steel snapped as it fell free and the door swung open. As soon as it did, a wall of flames came crashing past the hallway perpendicular to his cell. The door was torn from its hinges and lost in the intense light. Iroh jumped back, caught off by the explosion. As soon as it had started, it was over, and Iroh peeked his head out to see a steaming empty hallway. He couldn't help but notice the door that was once covering his cell was now logged into the wall across the hallway.

He made a mental note to never to that again as he sprinted off down the hall.

* * *

Azula marched down the hall, the look on her face a mix of anger, hatred, and above all pure malign. Groans were heard from several men on the ground, holding their head as smoke rose from their bodies. She soon reached her destination, the throne room. A pillar had collapsed to the right, taking the wall down with it and covering the throne with rock. She winced as she realized she could have been sitting there.

Several men tried to clean up, emerging from the hole in the wall where fire crackled. "Azula!"

She turned to see Zuko in the doorway. "What is going on!?"

The Princess crossed her arms across her chest and turned away from her brother. "Apparently, a few _tons_ of blasting jelly ignited, each on a level of the palace."

"What's the damage?" asked Zuko, approaching his sister while observing the hole.

"Not much on this level, but below is a lot more damaged. Had the explosions been any stronger and the palace may have collapsed in on itself." She turned towards him. "You are quartered down below, correct?"

"Yes," he answered, a stern glare on his face while he turned towards her. Shem looked deep into his golden orbs. Emotion lingered in those eyes, burdened by the many happenings of the young man's life, but above all Azula did not see what she was searching for...guilt. She looked away, back to the damage. If Zuko was downstairs, he would not have done this, it was to risky.

With a growl the princess turned away and stormed off. Zuko remained where he was, his gaze still trained to the many soldiers cleaning the area. A small smile split his lips.

* * *

Many things weighed Katara's mind down recently, so many things. But why was Zuko at the head of those things? The prince had betrayed them, and for what? She really believed that he had changed, but memories don't lie. At least not in this case.

In the forest below smoke rose from a large canopy of trees. Katara looked to the sky as thunder rumbled the clouds darkening with every passing second. With a sigh she tied her hair back. Sokka rested silently, for once, on Appa's head, starting to bring them down to the smoke below. Toph leaned against the saddle, blinding gazing at the clouds storming above. In the distance lightning illuminated the heavens, followed distantly by the rumbling thunder.

The Earth King and his pet bear relaxed peacefully in the saddle, watching the sky as well. And beside him lay Aang, fast asleep. Seeing the boy pinned Katara's heart with grief and regret He was in stable condition, but it would be a good week before he was able to fight again, leaving reasonably only Toph and herself to defend from any attackers.

She felt her stomach lurch as Appa came to a stop in a small clearing a just a hundred yards from the rising smoke. Without a word everyone slipped off of the beast. This had been the case lately, the heavy silence that lingered in the air. It was to painful to talk to anyone about anything because it all led back to the same thing.

The party broke the tree line, heading towards the fire. Katara just prayed it was someone who could help, someone besides Fire Nation. Her prayer was rewarded as they peered through what trees remained between them and saw Earth Kingdom soldiers walking about a camp, doing needed tasks. The eight, including Momo and Appa, emerged from the lush green trees to soldiers, and soon all eyes fell on them. Katara remained head of the party, her arms in front of her anxiously. None of the soldiers moved as they all stood in silence.

After what seemed like hours a man stood from the fire, a piece of meat in his hands. He wore a thick beard on his face, as well as deep green eyes. He was a fairly big man, muscle toning his somewhat short figure. A look of pain was painted along his face as he observed the party. All of the other soldiers watched him as he approached Katara.

"Uh, hello," said Katara. "My name is Katara."

The man hesitated, but reluctantly smiled. "My name is Gansu, welcome."


End file.
